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Cool that they're bringing it back although much of the content is basically on their Instagram account but I realize not everybody likes following it that way. If you don't follow DukeMBB on Instagram, I highly encourage you to do so as that seems to be their #1 source of sharing videos, images, and the like with the outside fanbase. They also livestream shootarounds before games and the like. The thing I don't like about Instagram (and social media in general), is the videos are always crazy short (as Instagram caps the duration and they've made a concerted effort to keep them short). So, I'm hoping DukeBluePlanet brings back the longer vids, which it appears the first installment is!

However, I much prefer the less glossy and produced post-game interviews Blue Planet has been known to release. This video felt like an endless travelogue montage occasionally interrupted by a jarring selfie-stick recorded first person soundbite. I guess the Duke brand is all polish but I prefer when Blue Planet is a little more scraggly. Now that Carrawell is back, I am hoping we get some of his unvarnished takes.

That being said, these little video hits are good reps for the players in dealing with the media and building their social media presence.

Personal note - I don't think I could have eaten a meal in that Tower restaurant...vertigo aint just a Hitchcock movie.

-Nice dorms!
-Zion is ebullient
-I assume that swank eating area where the team is hanging before the football game is that new section of Cameron - also very nice!
-I believe I heard Zion say he was taking "Disney Writing". Dream up a happy ending for the 2018/19 team, young fella!
-I love that the squad gets their lunches packed for them...it's good to be the king

-Nice dorms!
-Zion is ebullient
-I assume that swank eating area where the team is hanging before the football game is that new section of Cameron - also very nice!
-I believe I heard Zion say he was taking "Disney Writing". Dream up a happy ending for the 2018/19 team, young fella!
-I love that the squad gets their lunches packed for them...it's good to be the king

Great episode 2 - thanks for posting! I assume that's the new "megadorm" that was just built with suite style living. But somebody has to tell me that those rooms are normally doubles and they just converted them to singles for the bball players. If that's not the case, man, current Duke students are spoiled!!! 😉 I did find the window A/C odd as all Duke dorms have Central air now but perhaps it's "supplemental" a/c. And yes, I did not have a/c freshman year at Duke either..harumph!

Great episode 2 - thanks for posting! I assume that's the new "megadorm" that was just built with suite style living. But somebody has to tell me that those rooms are normally doubles and they just converted them to singles for the bball players. If that's not the case, man, current Duke students are spoiled!!! 😉 I did find the window A/C odd as all Duke dorms have Central air now but perhaps it's "supplemental" a/c. And yes, I did not have a/c freshman year at Duke either..harumph!

Pretty sure the freshmen on the team are still in the old dorms without central A/C. I spotted a radiator and two of the exterior "let's go inside the dorm" shots were of the main quad dorms. The interior doors were the old solid wood ones. In my time the freshmen had a designated space on the first floor of Bassett. From the footage it looks like they took space that would normally have 5-6 double rooms and gutted them to make the series of suites.

Pretty sure the freshmen on the team are still in the old dorms without central A/C. I spotted a radiator and two of the exterior "let's go inside the dorm" shots were of the main quad dorms. The interior doors were the old solid wood ones. In my time the freshmen had a designated space on the first floor of Bassett. From the footage it looks like they took space that would normally have 5-6 double rooms and gutted them to make the series of suites.

Hmmm, good point. Yeah, bball players were in Bassett when I was at Duke too. I thought Duke said there aren't any no a/c dorms left, but maybe that's just for West. Well, I wasn't allowed to have a window A/C on my second floor either even if I paid for it...Regardless, cool to see.

All of these are essential viewing. The American Tobacco loft, where Jack and Javin live, seems really nice. I guess it's the modern equivalent of the loft apartments on 9th Street which were new in the late 80s/early 90s. If players choose to live off campus, does Duke pay the rent or does that fall back on the player/family? I would think the later.

Aside from the Man City flag, it is interesting how popular the FIFA game is. I have seen articles claiming that it is a significant reason why soccer fandom has risen in the US over the past few years.

The "Culture" video is instructive for those whole like to try and discern the "truth" from the Pravda-esque sheen of Duke Blue Planet. Note - I am only poking fun with the house organ reference, I don't expect the program to put out balanced content. Every year K tells us how much the team likes each other and hangs out with each other. In this Culture video, however, there are many references to recent teams having cliques and that this team seems different. I hope it's true, but it is always interesting to hear how teams are discussed after they pass through vs how they are discussed while they are playing.

If players choose to live off campus, does Duke pay the rent or does that fall back on the player/family? I would think the later.

They get a stipend, up to a certain amount. Several years ago a sportswriter whose name I can't remember wrote about how getting rid of mandatory on campus housing can provide a boost to basketball programs, because players can find less expensive housing off campus and live together to save even more money, and then pocket the difference. Essentially coaches can offer to "pay" students for coming to their school in the form of surplus housing allowance.

None of our players are roughing it, but I do like the idea that they live in more modest housing. Not like the bajillion dollar basketball player-only dorms at Kentucky and Kansas.

They get a stipend, up to a certain amount. Several years ago a sportswriter whose name I can't remember wrote about how getting rid of mandatory on campus housing can provide a boost to basketball programs, because players can find less expensive housing off campus and live together to save even more money, and then pocket the difference. Essentially coaches can offer to "pay" students for coming to their school in the form of surplus housing allowance.